In the past decade, Thou has become a household name in the heavy music scene. Arguably Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s best artistic export, the band has churned out an unrelenting stream of releases year after year, with 2018 possibly proving to be their most prolific yet. Of the four (yeah…4) records issued by them in the space of the last few months, their upcoming full length Magus, which sees the light of day via Sacred Bones Records on 8/31, is the one most representative of the totality of the band’s oeuvre up to this point. This new offering feels as though it follows in the footsteps of their 2014 LP Heathen, but does not tread precisely the same ground.Continue Reading

Pennsylvania-based sludge/grind trio Secret Cutter (ex-Oktober Skyline) unleashed their acclaimed, super heavy self-titled effort over four years ago. Now, the impossibly intense band is set to release their crushing sophomore LP, titled Quantum Eraser, this Friday (July 6). The new release not only maintains their abrasive and begrudging tone, along with compelling and unpredictable songwriting, but it’s also tighter, more focused and somehow even heavier than their previous offering.

In this recent interview with Svbterranean, vocalist Ekim, drummer Jared Stimpfl and guitarist Evan Morey discuss the origins of Secret Cutter and the making of Quantum Eraser. They also talk about combining the visceral aggression of grind with the harsh density of sludge (why is “grudge” not a thing yet!?), how they manage to achieve their massive sound as just a three-piece, as well as their approach to unique songwriting and more. Check it out! Continue Reading

Black Metal mixes with everything and anything these days, and mixed results will happen. It is like part of the color wheel, it can be add to anything, but the results vary depending on what it is mixed with. You have blackened crust punk (Young and In The Way), Post-Black Metal (or Black Shoegaze as I called it, with Deafheaven), traditional black metal (if I don’t love me some Emperor) and black metal meets arena rock ( the new Black Anvil I can NOT get enough of and is in my top 3 for record of the year).

Let me tell you young’ins something you will learn actually fairly quick, and Coalesce said it best with an album title: There is nothing new under the sun. Let me repeat that for those skimming through my shitty, ADHD, virally infected writing and say it louder, since reading may be too good for you: THERE IS NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN! This has been true for a while, but goddamn, you can at least do a good job at making the music and kicking ass. Those bands I mentioned above do very well with what they have and their ideas and their mixture of genres.

Following two collaborations, two solo full lengths and a plethora of EPs, splits and singles, Trumpeting Ecstasy sees harsh grind death pioneers Full Of Hell entering a new era in sound. Following in the direction of the band’s Amber Mote… EP and their subsequently released split with Nails, Full Of Hell’s latest effort again leans towards the band’s death metal roots, inching farther from yet still retaining the group’s core musical identity. Imbued with higher registers of sound, greater emphases on technicality and death metal atmospherics, Trumpeting Ecstasy is a progressive, exultant exercise in sound. It pummels with a forward driving, almost-upbeat swagger with a surprising sense of form and accessibility that speaks to the instrumental mastery, sub-genre knowledge and cohesion of the band as a unit. Continue Reading

My first exposure to the bleak, raw sounds of St. Petersburg, Florida’s Weltesser was their 2015 demo. It was a brief, yet impressive display of the band’s penchant for writing stripped down, noisy sludge that slowly erodes the listener with every repetition. Here we are a couple of years later and Weltesser has been snatched up by Prosthetic Records and produced a massive first effort for the label in the form of Crestfallen, which was released via bandcamp on 1/27/17. Continue Reading

Philly/NJ’s newest doom titans Cowardice are something of a local supergroup, comprised of members of Black Urn, Sunrot, Thera Roya, Null&Void, Inertia, Sentient Horror, and Worthless. Respectively the other bands these guys are involved in cover a wide spectrum from post-metal to death metal to sludge, grind, and beyond. Cowardice though, sits solidly in the bracket of crusty-as-fuck, sludgy doom. If you like your heavy music to come at you by way of bands like Thou and Graves at Sea, then their debut release Without Condolence is solidly up your alley.

Chicago hardcore unit Weekend Nachos have released “Writhe”, the first single off of their swansong record Apology, due for release on CD and digital formats on May 20th via Relapse Records. Recorded again by the band’s very own Andy Nelson at Bricktop Studios, Apology will close out the band’s decade long presence with a triumphant thirteen tracks of self-described “utter punishment… sounding more dangerous and urgent than ever before”.

Vocalist John Hoffman said this about the album,

“Honestly, it’s a really really good record. I was nervous the whole time we were writing it, because it was like ‘This is it…this is our swansong. I hope we aren’t scraping the bottom of the barrel here.’ Truth is, we did scrape the bottom of the barrel, and it was the very last of the great material we’re capable of.”

Stream “Writhe” below courtesy of Metalsucks and pre-order Apology on CD here and digital formats here. A separate tape release for Apology will emerge concurrently in May via Toxicbreed’s Funhouse and a vinyl release will come via Deep Six Records at a later date. Be sure to catch Weekend Nachos on their last tour dates with peers Primitive Man, Wormrot and The Afternoon Gentlemen, dates and details below. Continue Reading

Let’s get this out of the way; I generally don’t like sludge. I’ve heard and enjoy a lot of the “classics” like Eyehategod, Cavity, Iron Monkey, Grief, etc etc, but honestly, the formula gets very old for me very fast. There’s only so many downtuned Sabbath worship riffs under screechy or growled vocals I can take. Graves at Sea, however, have been a band I’ve loved since the second I heard their demo Documents of Grief, which is often billed as their debut album. They take the tried and true formula of sludge, but manage to make it filthier, groovier, and just plain crushing in ways that truly made them stand out for me. When I got word a few years ago that they were reuniting and releasing new music, I was ecstatic.

Let’s just get this out of the way now; Cult of Luna are, and have been for the past…a bunch of years, my absolute favorite band. This isn’t hyperbole. I have their lyrics tattooed on me, I have spent a ridiculous amount of money obtaining original pressings of their albums (mostly right before they get repressed because I have awful luck, but that’s neither here nor there…), and I have seen every American show that they’ve played, travelling states away to do so. My wife is due to give birth to a baby girl this weekend, and her middle name will be Luna. HAVE I PROVED MY FANBOYISM YET?

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Svbterranean is an extreme music blog that is dedicated to bringing you the best in all things heavy and interesting. Whether it be metal, hardcore, noise, post-rock or everything in between, Svbterranean will always be keeping an ear to the underground.
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Svbterranean formed out of the ashes of American Aftermath, which was active from 2010-2015.